|
 |
|
The 1997 Inductees
Joseph L. Brechner
J. Emory "Red" Cross
Gov. Lawton Chiles
Paul Hogan
Ralph Lowenstein
Barry S. Richard
Robert L. Shevin
Jo Anne Smith
Parker D. Thomson
Harold B. Wahl
Pete Weitzel |
|
Joseph L. Brechner
The late Joseph L. Brechner was strongly committed to the freedom of information movement at both the state and national level. He played an important role in opening public meetings, public records and the courts of Florida to public scrutiny.
Brechner’s vision and generosity helped the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information become a reality. His financial gifts of more than $1.4 million endowed the Eminent Scholar of Freedom of Information chair, built the current facilities for the center and added to the previously established endowment for the Freedom of Information Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse was renamed in Brechner’s honor in 1986.
Brechner was a leader in the effort to allow cameras into courtrooms around the state and the nation. He fought a battle in the 1960s to head off restrictions on media coverage of courts on the television station WFTV, and then subsequently in his columns in the The Orlando Sentinel.
Brechner also devoted his career to television and radio, beginning with erecting and managing radio station WGAY in Silver Spring, Maryland. He went on to television, as founder and manager of WFTV in Orlando, Fla.
He was a former president of the Central Florida Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, a member of the board of governors of the ABC-TV Affiliates Association, and chairman of the freedom of information committee of the Florida Association of Broadcasters.
back to top |
 |
J. Emory "Red" Cross
The late J. Emory "Red" Cross is known as the father of the Sunshine Law. As a member of the Florida Senate from 1959-69, he was the prime sponsor of the Open Meetings Law, which became law in 1967.
Cross, who introduced the Open Meetings legislation five times before it was ultimately passed, represented Alachua County in the Florida House of Representatives from 1955-59.
When Cross first introduced the proposed legislation in 1955, no other state had an Open Meetings Law that allowed for the broad access he wanted to ensure. Cross' bill, which included criminal penalties for open meetings violations, passed once the "Porkchop Era" ended and reapportionment changed the makeup of the Legislature.
The new Open Meetings Law set the standard for access and made Florida one of the leading Sunshine states in the country.
Following his legislative service, Cross served as a county court judge in Alachua County for eight years and then served as an Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Judge in Titusville for 10 years by assignment of the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
In 1974, Cross was a recipient of the University of Florida's Distinguished Alumni Award.
back to top |
 |
Gov. Lawton Chiles
The Honorable Lawton Chiles was in his second term as governor of Florida when the Sunshine Summit was held. He died in December 1998, a few weeks shy of completing his term.
He was one of the original co-sponsors of the Florida Open Meetings Lawt during his years as a state senator from 1966 to 1970. Chiles also served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1958 to 1966. He was chairman of the Florida Law Revision Commission from 1968 to 1970.
Chiles continued his freedom of information work at the federal level when he became a United States Senator. He sponsored the Government-in-the-Sunshine Act, which was adopted by Congress in 1976. Chiles served as a U.S. Senator for 18 years before retiring from the Senate in 1989. He became governor of Florida in 1990.
Chiles’ focus as governor was on children and families. He received the Outstanding Political Advocate for Young Children Award from the Early Childhood Association of Florida and the Child Advocate of the Year Award from Big Bend Coordinated Child Care.
back to top |
 |
Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan, former managing editor of The Tampa Tribune, was one of the first newspaper editors to become actively involved in the government-in-the-sunshine movement.
Hogan was instrumental in starting the Florida FOI newsletter, which ultimately became The Brechner Report. He worked closely with the College of Journalism and Communications to sell subscriptions to the newsletter, which he felt was a desperately needed early warning system about threats to access.
During the late 1970s, Hogan served as president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and chaired FSNE's FOI committee. Following the Florida Supreme Court's decision ensuring access to all records not specifically exempted, he worked closely with Florida legislators to ensure that the law was not amended to close law enforcement records.
In addition to testifying before several legislative committees, Hogan quickly saw the need to hire a lobbyist to represent the media's interests. For many years, Hogan spearheaded the effort to fund the media's legislative effort.
Hogan and The Tampa Tribune were also active in filing lawsuits against public officials for violating the state's sunshine laws.
back to top |
 |
Ralph Lowenstein
Ralph Lowenstein became dean emeritus of the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications after retiring in 1995.
Lowenstein has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to freedom of information. As a graduate student in 1965-67, he was the publications editor at the legendary Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri .
In 1977, while dean at the University of Florida, he founded the Florida Freedom of Information Clearinghouse, the precursor to the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. Lowenstein founded the center as a response to news media needs to share information about legal problems and experiences. He then worked tirelessly to raise funds to support the center, eventually obtaining the money from Joseph L. Brechner for the Joseph L. Brechner Eminent Scholar and center facilities.
Lowenstein served on the board of directors of the Florida First Amendment Foundation from 1984 to 1994, and the Florida Press Association from 1988 to 1990. He also served on the National Association of Broadcasters' First Amendment Committee from 1984 to 1988, and was president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication from 1990 to 1991.
He received the Society of Professional Journalists' Distinguished Service Award for Research in Journalism, the Freedom Forum's Journalism Administrator of the Year award, and the Distinguished Service to Journalism Award given by the Journalism Alumni of Columbia University.
back to top |
 |
Barry S. Richard
Barry S. Richard practices law in Tallahassee, with the law firm Greenberg Traurig. He serves as general counsel for the Florida Press Association and represents the media before the legislature on a variety of issues.
A long-time proponent of open government, Richard drafted the 1992 Public Records and Meetings Constitutional Amendment and successfully negotiated support for the amendment from the Florida House of Representatives, the Florida Senate and the Attorney General's Office.
Richard was the chief deputy attorney general for Florida from 1972-74, where he played a key role in the Attorney General's Office's active involvement in increasing access to governmental information. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1974-78 and was the prime sponsor in the House of a complete rewrite of the Florida Public Records Law, which substantially increased the breadth and enforceability of the law.
Richard was the first lawyer retained by the media to represent journalists' interest before the legislature and served as legislative counsel for the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors from 1979-96. He helped create the First Amendment Foundation and drafted its constitution.
A constitutional lawyer, Richard has argued on behalf of open government many times before the Florida Supreme Court and has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court three times.
back to top |
 |
Robert L. Shevin
The late Honorable Robert L. Shevin served as an appellate judge on the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami.
As Attorney General of Florida from 1971-79, Shevin played a critical role in the interpretation and the implementation of the Open Meetings Law. During his tenure, the Attorney General's Office issued critical opinions strongly supporting open government.
He also participated in many of the landmark cases ensuring access to information in Florida. He argued on behalf of openness before the Florida Supreme Court many times during his eight years as Attorney General.
Shevin was one of the co-sponsors of the Open Meetings Law while serving in the Florida Senate from 1966-70. During his tenure in the Florida Senate, Shevin was recognized by The St. Petersburg Times as one of the 10 most outstanding Florida Senators.
He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1964-66. Shevin also served as a member of the 1978 Florida Constitutional Revision Commission.
Shevin continued to be involved in Sunshine issues and was a member of the Florida Senate's Sunshine Advisory Committee in 1988.
back to top |
 |
Jo Anne Smith
Jo Anne Smith is a professor emeritus of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. She retired in 1988.
During her nearly 30 years as a faculty member, she introduced more than 10,000 students to issues related to government access and freedom of information.
Smith was the first director of the Freedom of Information Clearinghouse, which evolved into the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. She directed the Clearinghouse's activities from 1977-86. She started the process of summarizing legal information and sending it statewide to media organizations through a newsletter, a practice that has continued.
She was one of 29 chosen nationally to attend a summer law institute fellowship at Stanford University in 1969. That group initiated the law division of the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Smith also served on the media access committee for the Gainesville Eight trial of antiwar protesters in the 1960s. She also served on a Florida Supreme Court committee that examined access to Florida courts.
Smith was honored six times as an outstanding teacher at UF’s College of Journalism and Communications, named the Blue Key Distinguished Professor in 1976 and served as a Danforth Fellow from 1976-85.
back to top |
| |
Parker D. Thomson
Parker D. Thomson is the managing partner of Hogan & Hartson's Miami office. A graduate of Harvard University's law school, Thomson was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1971.
Thomson has been a tireless advocate for the press and represented The Miami Herald and many other papers in Florida during the time when Florida was developing its government-in-the-sunshine laws.
Thomson represented the media in numerous landmark cases during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1977, the Florida Supreme Court decided five of Thomson's press cases in 10 months. Thomson successfully sued to keep the settlements of lawsuits by cities open to the public and criminal trials open to the public. He also convinced the Florida Supreme Court that reporters had the right to attend suppression-of-evidence hearings and should have access to grand jury reports.
Thomson served as a mentor and role model for many of the state's media lawyers.
back to top |
 |
Harold B. Wahl
The late Harold B. Wahl handled many of the precedent-setting cases leading to access to records and meetings. He also argued several landmark cases before the Florida Supreme Court, including Fletcher v. Florida Publishing Company, a case that allowed press access to accident scenes.
Wahl was involved in eight cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. He played a large part in the development of the law of defamation. In Florida, he was involved in the early fight to open records and meetings.
He also served as chairman of the Media Law and Defamation Torts Committee of The Florida Bar, president of the Florida Junior Bar, vice chairman of the Junior Bar Conference for the American Bar Association, and chairman on Admiralty Law of the Florida Bar.
During his long career, Wahl represented several media companies, including various television stations in Jacksonville and CBS. Wahl was active in practice with Wahl and Gabel, where he was general counsel for both The Florida Times-Union and the Jacksonville Journal, until he was 82 years old.
back to top |
 |
Pete Weitzel
Pete Weitzel, former senior managing editor of The Miami Herald, has been one of the state's strongest advocates for freedom of information. Weitzel, who spent 37 years at The Herald, has been a tireless supporter and proponent of access to information in Florida and nationally and is considered by many to be the state's guardian of public access.
Weitzel served as president of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and for 15 years chaired its Freedom of Information Committee. He helped draft the amendment to Florida's Constitution guaranteeing citizens access to public records and meetings and spearheaded FSNE's legislative agenda.
In 1985, Weitzel helped establish and then served as president of Florida's First Amendment Foundation. He persuaded newspapers around the state to donate $400,000 to endow the foundation, which is now one of the state's leading advocates for open meetings and records.
Weitzel was co-founder of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, a First Amendment advocacy organization, and served as its president from 1993-95.
He also served on a Florida Supreme Court panel that liberalized rules governing public access to court records.
Weitzel is a visiting professional at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. In his decade as managing editor, The Miami Herald was one of the nation's most honored newspapers. The staff was awarded eight Pulitzer prizes, including the public service medal for coverage of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
back to top |
|
|
|
|